By Kevin Lavery, WKAR Radio
East Lansing, MI – East Lansing, MI (WKAR Radio)
Many Lansing-area GM dealers are still waiting for notification from the automaker that their franchise agreements will not be renewed. General Motors began sending letters to 1,100 dealerships across the country Thursday.
GM says it wants underperforming retailers who sell fewer than 35 cars each year to "wind down" by the end of 2010. The company has chosen not to release its dealer closure list.
Dorian Gordon is general manager of Kelly Buick GMC in Mason. He feels that could lead to what he calls a "public relations fiasco."
"It's really going to be a situation where they're not really going out of business for another year and a half, and the public is really concerned about who they're going to do business with," Gordon says. "And unless there's some language in the termination statement that says you have to disclose it, it could leave a lot of customers with other questions that you really don't need them to be wondering about going forward."
General Motors hopes to cut its national dealership roster from about 6,000 to less than 4,000 by the end of 2010.